by Alexandra Christian
I have a confession to make. After this weekend, I will have seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi five times. That’s right, I paid to see it in the theater five different times at more than ten bucks a pop. I realize that I most likely have a psychological problem. It isn’t that I have a weird obsession with large men that have strange faces (I do). Or that I might have a slight mask fetish (I do). Or that I’m a lifelong Star Wars junkie (I was literally a week old when A New Hope came out). My problem boils down to this-- I’m attracted to bad men. Not in my real life, mind you. My husband is probably one of the sweetest people in the world. But there’s something about that dark prince that whispers wicked and wonderful things in your ear that is so appealing. We call that phenomenon death and the maiden.
Death and the maiden is a theme that began in Greek
mythology with Hades and Persephone. The idea of the frightening God of the
Underworld seducing the innocent daughter and dragging her down to the
Underworld with him. That theme was popularized during the Renaissance with the
figure of death looming over or even kissing a beautiful, young girl. It
further evolved into many aspects of our culture, including literature. Beauty
and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera, and even Fifty Shades of
Grey, among others, are based upon this idea. That contrast of light and
darkness, yin and yang, and their attraction to one another, can be traced
through much of our popular culture. Is it any surprise that it has become a
tried and true romance novel trope?
Which brings me back to the new Star Wars movie. I don’t want
to spoil it or anything, but at the center of the plot (and indeed the entire
sequel trilogy) is the death and the maiden thread being played out by Kylo Ren
(or Ben Solo depending on your point of view) and Rey. Now, whether you agree
with it or not (please do NOT send this blog hate mail in the comments), that aspect
is pretty clear in the climax of the movie (hehe… she said climax). It adds a
layer to the movies that I always thought was missing in the clumsy
May-December kisses between Padme Amidala and the doomed Anakin Skywalker.
If you’ve read my books Beast of Burden or Huntress,
you can see the death and the maiden influence weighing heavily on both
stories. In Beast, the dark prince Cianan Marek seems pretty darned evil
on the surface. He forces beautiful and innocent Sascha to be his slave in
exchange for her previous master’s indiscretions. He’s a werewolf. Not to
mention that he has a really big, nasty secret that I won’t disclose (you gotta
read the book). In Huntress, Prince Malik is literally a monster that’s
rescued from his own rage and anguish by the dragonslayer maiden, Thalia. It’s
also there in my sci-fi romance series, Phoenix Rising (Naked and
Neo-Geisha). The heroine, Phoebe Addison, is a seemingly innocent
librarian who reluctantly falls in love with the angry alpha superspy, Cage St.
John. The aforementioned heroines are drawn to these heroes because of their
darkness. They are, perhaps subconsciously, excited by the perceived danger of
loving these men who behave badly.
As both a reader and a writer, I’m a sucker for these
stories. And I can’t be the only one. Fifty Shades of Grey has made
millions of dollars worldwide and Phantom of the Opera is the longest
running show on Broadway. Are we hardwired to love the things that are bad for
us? Or is it that we long for someone to push our boundaries and force us to do
the things we fantasize about, thereby allowing us to absolve ourselves of any
guilt we might feel? I suspect it may be simpler than that. Perhaps embracing
“death” is a way to face our own fears of mortality. By taking “death” as a
lover, it gives us some sense that we have conquered it.
Or maybe I’m just a sicko.
(All views expressed in this guest post are those of the author, Alexandra Christian, and don't necessarily reflect that of the SFR Brigade.)
OUT OF THE STACKS
Librarian Phoebe Addison has
lived her entire life within a seventy-five mile radius of her small Louisiana
town, but when she receives a strange medallion from her adventurous, off-world
sister, reality tilts toward the bizarre. Everything Phoe thought she knew
is…well, wrong. Dead wrong. But bone-numbing fear has no place in this brave
new world—nor by the side of the dangerous, exquisite man who saves her life.
…AND INTO THE FIRE
Following the tragic slaughter of
his family, operative Macijah “Cage” St. John understands evil in a way no man
ever should. He traded happiness for a magnificent and terrible power, and fate
isn’t done with him yet. He wasn’t looking for comfort. He didn’t need
tenderness. But today he’ll play hero to a damsel in distress, and his quest
will deliver him to the uncanny Martian colony of New London—and his heart to
the demure Phoebe Addison. The bookish beauty’s hidden talents and deep abiding
love just might save Cage from himself.
About
the Author:
Alexandra Christian is an author
of mostly romance with a speculative slant. Her love of Stephen King and sweet
tea has flavored her fiction with a Southern Gothic sensibility that reeks of
Spanish moss and deep fried eccentricity. Lexx likes to keep her fingers in lots
of different pies having written everything from sci-fi and horror to Sherlock
Holmes adventures.
A self-proclaimed “Southern Belle
from Hell,” Lexx is a native South Carolinian who lives with an epileptic
wiener dog and her husband, author Tally Johnson. Her long-term aspirations are
to one day be a best-selling authoress and part-time pinup girl. She’s a member
of Romance Writers of America.
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/b5c_Un
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexxxchristian
Amazon Author Central:
Thanks so much for letting me jabber away on the blog!
ReplyDeleteLove the Death and the Maiden trope. I might have watched too many youtube vids on the whole #Reylo phenomenon. (I really hope JJ Abrams keeps that thread going in 9.) I've always been a #TeamPhantom fan and always think Christine was an idiot for not choosing him. I haven't read or seen Fifty Shades. I didn't know it fit the Death and the Maiden theme. I wish I was brave enough to write it in my next story. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAs a guy, I think I always suspected that the attraction lay in the female protagonist's desire to fix/heal/nurture the bad boy. Also, in extending the trope to Death itself, falling in love and staying together allows her to achieve immortality, not necessarily to conquer Death, but to join it eternally.
ReplyDelete